Jim Bolger

James Brendan "Jim" Bolger (31 May 1935-) was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2 November 1990 to 8 December 1997, succeeding Mike Moore and preceding Jenny Shipley. Bolger was also leader of the conservative New Zealand National Party from 1986 to 1997.

Biography
Jim Bolger was born in Taranaki, New Zealand on 31 May 1935, the son of Irish immigrants. He became a farmer, and he was elected to Parliament in 1972 as a member of the New Zealand National Party; he was made Secretary of State for Agriculture and Maori Affairs in 1975. Bolger also served as Mnister of Immigration from 1977 to 1981 and Minister of Labor from 1979 to 1984, and he became party leader in 1986. Following another election defeat against David Lange's New Zealand Labor Party, he began to shift the party from its previous interventionist stance to one which endorsed radical economic liberalism, and he fostered an image of solid reliability. He led his party to a landslide victory in the 1990 general elections, ruthlessly exploiting Labor's internal divisions. He argued that the country could no longer afford its comprehensive welfare system, so he revolutionized social policy from universal to means-tested assistance designed to benefit only the very poorist sections of society. Pensions were no longer automatically guaranteed, rents in state-owned accomodation were raised to market levels, and expenditure on university education was drastically cut. He was re-elected in 1993 with a small majority, which enabled him to continue his reforms. At the same time, he tried to come to an agreement with the Maoris about their land claims resulting from the Treaty of Waitangi. He struck a more populist note when he condemned the French resumption of nuclear testing at Mururoa in 1995, and he also supported withdrawing the office of head of state from the British crown. He resigned due to the lack of faith in his leadership, and he became a junior minister in Jenny Shipley's government.